[VentureBeat] Maxthon’s MXPlay game portal expands its HTML5 offering with Cut The Rope and 2048

Maxthon’s MXPlay game portal expands its HTML5 offering with Cut The Rope and 2048

More and more mobile developers are bringing their games to the web thanks to powerful tools like HTML5, and now a popular online gaming portal is expanding to better serve those kinds of experiences to players.

Developer Maxthon, which makes the multiplatform browser of the same name for PC, smartphones, and tablets, has revealed the latest version of its MXPlay games portal. Mobile hits like Cut the Rope and 2048 represent the service’s new effort to provide casual games. MXPlay will also continue to release new HTML5-only games like the simple-looking online battler Treasure Arena and the point-and-click thriller Gods Will Be Watching. This is more evidence of HTML5 gaming’s continued growth on the web, and Maxthon is trying to play an important role in that with its gaming portal and browsers.

“Maxthon’s global user community has always been heavily powered by casual and serious gamers from the very beginning,” Maxthon founder and chief executive Jeff Chen said in a statement. “They love the speed, stability, and performance that our browsers bring to gaming. Early responses to our beta underscores this. Now, we’re adding to the fun and will continue to do so in the weeks and months ahead.”

HTML5 is an important tool for developers as it enables them to build a game once and run it through a browser on nearly any platform. That’s different from native apps for iOS, Android, and Windows, which require studios to take the time to port their games from one to the other.

By hosting games like Treasure Arena and 2048 on its portal, Maxthon is hoping to both generate revenue from dedicated users while also building up excitement for studios that are still considering whether to release HTML5-based games.